Brandon Hobson is an intriguing Cherokee writer. I loved one of his earlier works, The Removed. In The Devil Is a Southpaw, some of his many layers of meaning went over my head, especially many of the literary, mythological, and historical references. What I did catch was thought-provoking and profound. The first part of the novel, which is a manuscript within the book written by the character Milton, is titled “The Devil is a Southpaw.” Milton is a child in the first part and an adult in the second part, and his name and qualities seem to allude to the famous Milton. The manuscript is supposedly based on a movie of that name starring John Wayne. Of course, characters played by John Wayne often killed Native Americans and displayed their white dominance. Milton’s story takes place at a residential detention center in Oklahoma around 1988. Although not all of the detainees are Native Americans, Matthew Echota, Milton’s friend, is certainly one, and he is the object of Milton’s admiration, which is more like an unhealthy envy.
We get to know Mathew Echota as a boy who stutters and is the subject of harassment and bullying. Not only is he victimized by his peers, but also by adults. He’s different, has a deformed hand, and is super sensitive. He is artistic, misunderstood, and as the Echota name suggests, represents his people, the Cherokee. His family and his captors dismiss his positive attributes and punish him for being himself, talented and observant. The abusive detention home for children, as Milton describes it, forces us to ask questions about the inhumane treatment of some people and the institutional violence characterizing so much American policy and culture. Hobson gave the sergeants and counselors names such as Ambrose, Jackson, Lee, Vlad, and Strangelove. Some of these historic names are references to famous oppressors. Their pretenses of saving people that they are harming, in a religious and cultural sense, are repulsive yet resonate with reality.
The first half of the book is symbolic, mythological, and dark in its portrayal of the treatment of the children at the detention center. The youngsters are continually dehumanized in multiple ways and told to work on redemption and saving themselves. The children’s preoccupation is with escaping, not only from the facility, but also from reality by focusing on writing and art to express themselves. Drawings are interspersed throughout the text to illustrate further the emotions and ambiance of the setting and themes. We don’t find out the backstories of the children and why they are in detention until the second half of the book. As we read the second half, we are enlightened about the hopelessness of the main characters and the generational cycles of abuse that plague them. It becomes clear that multigenerational violence and dissatisfaction with life and cultural expectations of masculinity and performance adversely affect oppressed people. The book left me with many questions about good and evil, and of course, the devil. The term “southpaw,” referring to Matthew’s father’s baseball status as well as the devil, definitely carries a negative connotation of disadvantage and stigma. The way education is imposed on marginalized people is both pretentious and disturbing.. The people in control of education in this novel are often less educated than their captive audience. In The Devil is a Southpaw, Brandon Hobson has crafted a complex story with powerful and timely themes that will prompt readers to reflect on relationships within families, communities, institutions, and culture.
